The wife and I will be taking our first road trip this August. We will visit friends in North Carolina, camping in the Smokies and I'll definitely hit the Dragon. What's a good route? Google maps will obviously give me the fastest route, but we would like something more scenic and away from the interstate highways. Thanks in advance!

 

I think most of us have always used the Interstate route since we're just trying to get to Fontana/the dragon as quick as we can. Once you get to Knoxville there's a couple alternatives, you could take the 441 to Sevierville, then down through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg to the Smoky Mtns Natl Park, that's a scenic route, but Pigeon Forge tends to be busy (it has a lot of go-kart tracks and is very touristy). You'd then come in from the east side. Not a bad route, it's probably about an hour longer than just coming straight down 129 out of Knoxville.

 

Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge are awful with traffic during the summer especially on weekends. If you have enough time you can drive to VA then take the Blue Ridge all the way down to Cherokee NC, it's a beautiful drive but takes 2 days at 45 mph.

 

Its a great suggestion. We got married last year in the Blue Ridge. Unbelievable driving.